ThailandThailand

Published on December 14, 2015 ⋅ 5min read

Rain pattered down upon the roofs around us. Lightning flashed, breaking the diffuse glow of the city sky, and for the briefest of moments, illuminating all. Thunderclaps came rumbling low and loud, swallowing whole the urban soundscape. We had arrived to a city besieged by storm.

As all journeys do, something went wrong. We missed our shuttle from the airport in Bangkok. Salome ended up taking 2.5 hours to get through passport control and so they left. Certainly not the worst that could have happened, but it meant we had to find another way to the city. We opted for the train. It turns out it is super easy to catch the rail link to Phaya Thai, then switch to the BTS train for Nana station, which was only one block away from where we were staying. Amidst the thunderstorm, we made our way down the streets, for the most part avoiding getting wet from the rain, although still managing to become thoroughly soaked — the humidity and sweat saw to that.

By morning, the storm had passed, and in its place thick, muggy air. We took to the streets early, in a vain attempt to avoid the heat of the day. It couldn’t be escaped. After walking around for the better part of the morning, we found ourselves relaxing in the air-conditioned shopping malls, quite satisfied to just sit and let time pass by while we enjoyed a respite from the oppressive heat. After lunch we visited a snake farm, then spent the rest of the day riding around via a Tuktuk, and took the obligatory boat trip along the river, before rendezvousing at the Stray tour office for the welcome night event.

The next day we left for Ayutthaya, which once was the capital of Thailand, circa 1350 - 1700. Another boat tour, this time with the local Stray guide, with a visit to 3 quite distinct temples, one of which was completely in ruins. It also happened to be the King’s birthday, a special day for all in Thailand, a day which everyone celebrates. The King is highly respected and much loved by the Thai people and we were privileged to witness their celebrations in the streets of Ayutthaya that evening. A huge stage had been erected along the main street and everyone gathered, as night fell, to come and pay their respects to the King. Around 7.30pm we departed for the train station.

My first overnight train experience was actually rather enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I slept horribly, waking every hour or so with stiff joints, but the novelty of the journey won out over fatigue. It actually isn’t a bad way to travel. We covered an enormous amount of ground, all the while getting to lie down and sleep. I actually preferred it to flying. We arrived in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, early morning. We’d booked to do the Flight of the Gibbons, a tree-top zip lining adventure tour up in the mountains. No sooner had we arrived at the hostel, we had to depart.

It was amazing.

There were probably between a dozen and two dozen zip lines that you flew on, I didn’t count the exact number, with the longest an 850m flight above a valley. In total, there was over 5km of line, plus some rickety rope bridges (think Indiana Jones) and a couple of abseils. Many of the platforms were 30m plus high and swayed with the wind. I tried not to think of Thailand’s health and safety regulations… My favourite was what they called the “Superman” line, in which they attached the cable to your back, and required you to leap out over the drop and attempt to fly, praying that the cable would support your weight. I thought I would have difficulty with this, but I surprised myself and jumped as far as I could with no hesitation. I received the ultimate wedgie for my efforts, as I fell and was yanked back by the rope.

The rest of our time in Chiang Mai involved enjoying my first Thai massage, attending the Ladyboy Cabaret show, which I personally didn’t find particularly interesting, and spectating my first Muay Thai boxing match ringside. We were pleasantly surprised to see that one of the contenders was a New Zealander from Wellington! Of course, we rooted for him during his bout, and he managed to knock down his opponent in the third round. Yeah, Jones! Whoop whoop.

At the advice of our friendly Norwegian, Jørgen, one of the members of our Stray group, we hopped off at Chiang Mai, and caught the bus up to a small rural town called Pai. The 3.5hr drive was incredibly windy and more than one passenger was on the verge of losing their Pad Thai by the end of the ride.

Pai was awesome. It was a very chilled out place. I spent most of my time just talking with fellow travellers, hanging out with Jørgen, with whom I’ve become good friends, and riding on mopeds through the countryside, visiting various scenic spots, such as waterfalls, canyons and hot springs.

We met a couple of really cool people, whom we spent quite some time with. Sandra, a Swedish girl who sprained her ankle quite badly and couldn’t walk. Jørgen and myself offered “Norwegian and New Zealand Tuktuk” tours, piggybacking her around the town so she wasn’t confined to the hostel. Vicky, an accountant from Bristol, England, went halves with me on a moped, because the Thai man renting them wouldn’t trust her with her own bike. He asked us the exact same questions, to which both Vicky and I replied with the same answers, but he would only let me rent one. So we decided we’d just get one and share the driving.

We stayed in Pai only 2 nights before catching the bus back to Chiang Mai. It was a definite highlight of the trip thus far. We met up with the new Stray group in the hostel and were introduced to our new tour leader, Maitai, a young Dutch bloke who’s a ton of fun.

Onto Chiang Rai, the town with the White Temple. We didn’t spend long here, as we had to make the border crossing into Laos later in the afternoon, for which we had to allow quite a lot of time. Personally, I found the White Temple rather obnoxious. It was an impressive building, no doubt about that, what with all the carved statues and illustrious decorations, but for me it wasn’t pretty. Inside, the back walls were covered floor to ceiling in detailed paintings of the Buddha. Whilst opposite, a devilish looking creature surrounded by characters and scenes from the “evil capitalist West”, such as Yoda, Dragonball Z characters, oil tanks, planes crashing into the Twin Towers, plus all manner of pop culture characters and references. Western culture is obviously not something that is appreciated by those building the temple.

By mid afternoon we were at the border, leaving Thailand, and entering Laos…